Plug pulled on late-night TV ads for medical pot

Mar. 11, 2014
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Dave Kois on Feb. 24 shows visitors his marijuana plants in a grow room of his Loaded Soda business, which provides marijuana-infused products such as soda and chocolate, to medical marijuana dispensaries, in Olympia, Wash. Plans for late-night TV ads for medical marijuana have been canceled. / Elaine Thompson AP

by Rick Hampson, USA TODAY

by Rick Hampson, USA TODAY

Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, says it decided not to accept ads for a medical marijuana referral service because the satiric spot did not meet its standards.

Last week a Comcast spokesman said the network had decided to run the edgy ad on its systems in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Chicago.

But this week Steven Restivo, Compast's executive director of communications, said that the initial information released by his network was incorrect and that the spot was never cleared for broadcast.

The spot, viewable online, promotes MarijuanaDoctors.com, which links people who want legal medical marijuana with doctors willing to prescribe it.

It begins with a street dealer pushing sushi of dubious provenance. "Yo, you want sushi? I got sushi. I got the best sushi," the man tells the camera. A voice-over asks: "You wouldn't buy your sushi from this guy, so why would you buy your marijuana from him?"